Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the EU Directive 96/29/Euratom on safety standards relating to ionizing radiation, whether these is a national register of all persons potentially exposed to ionizing radiation.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) holds a national dose register of classified radiation workers known as the Central Index of Dosage Information (CIDI). This register is maintained in accordance with the Council Directive 2013/59 Euratom, replacing earlier directives, including 96/29/Euratom. The definition of a classified radiation worker is a person who works with ionising radiation and who could be exposed to higher levels of ionising radiation during normal work and also under certain accident conditions. It is designated Approved Dosimetry Services (ADS’s), approved by HSE, that submit this radiation exposure information annually to CIDI.
The CIDI is only accessible by three authorised HSE personnel. Only ADS’s may request information for medical surveillance purposes (e.g. if a classified worker moves employer) and these requests are considered on a case-by-case basis. Only authorised persons within an ADS are able to submit annual returns to the CIDI database via a secure password protected portal and cannot access data held within the database itself.
Atomic Nuclear weapons testing by the UK took place before the establishment of CIDI. Therefore, CIDI does not contain any radiation exposure data for service personnel who may have been exposed to ionising radiation as a result of nuclear testing at the time.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the EU Directive 96/29/Euratom on safety standards relating to ionizing radiation, how the national register of persons potentially exposed to ionizing radiation can be accessed; and whether that register includes service personnel who have taken part in nuclear testing.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) holds a national dose register of classified radiation workers known as the Central Index of Dosage Information (CIDI). This register is maintained in accordance with the Council Directive 2013/59 Euratom, replacing earlier directives, including 96/29/Euratom. The definition of a classified radiation worker is a person who works with ionising radiation and who could be exposed to higher levels of ionising radiation during normal work and also under certain accident conditions. It is designated Approved Dosimetry Services (ADS’s), approved by HSE, that submit this radiation exposure information annually to CIDI.
The CIDI is only accessible by three authorised HSE personnel. Only ADS’s may request information for medical surveillance purposes (e.g. if a classified worker moves employer) and these requests are considered on a case-by-case basis. Only authorised persons within an ADS are able to submit annual returns to the CIDI database via a secure password protected portal and cannot access data held within the database itself.
Atomic Nuclear weapons testing by the UK took place before the establishment of CIDI. Therefore, CIDI does not contain any radiation exposure data for service personnel who may have been exposed to ionising radiation as a result of nuclear testing at the time.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the EU Directive 96/29/Euratom on safety standards relating to ionizing radiation, whether all persons potentially exposed to ionizing radiation are receiving independent examination for genetic damage as defined by the number of aberrant cells shown by translocation within chromosomes.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
A classified radiation worker is a person who works with ionising radiation and who could be exposed to higher levels of ionising radiation during normal work and also under certain accident conditions. Before a person can be designated as a classified radiation worker they must be certified as fit to work with ionising radiation by an independent Appointed Doctor. The classified person must then undergo an annual medical review. Neither the pre-classification medical examination nor the annual medical review includes specific checks for genetic damage.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the EU Directive 96/29/Euratom on safety standards relating to ionizing radiation, whether all those persons potentially exposed to ionizing radiation are receiving regular medical screening by specialists in radiation medicine.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Medical surveillance of classified radiation workers, as required by the Ionising Radiation Regulations 2017 (IRR 17), is an assessment of an individual’s medical fitness to work with ionising radiation. A classified radiation worker is a person who works with ionising radiation who could be exposed to higher levels of ionising radiation levels under both normal work and accident conditions. This assessment is performed by a doctor appointed by the Health and Safety Executive. Appointed Doctors have training in occupational medicine and have received additional training in the relevant aspects of the nature and effects of ionising radiation.
Medical surveillance should occur prior to being classified and every 12 months thereafter, unless the doctor specifies a shorter review period.
Special Medical surveillance by an Appointed Doctor must be arranged for any employee who has received, or is suspected to have received, an overexposure to ionising radiation, whether or not they are a classified person. The extent and nature of this will depend upon the circumstances of each individual case.
The employer decides which Appointed Doctor(s) they will use to carry out medical surveillance. Whether or not the Appointed Doctor is an employee of that organisation, or independent of it, is a matter for the employer to decide upon.
In the context of IRR 17, former armed services personnel involved in nuclear testing would be considered in the same way as any other workers exposed to ionising radiation in respect of the need for either medical surveillance or special medical surveillance.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the EU Directive 96/29/Euratom on safety standards relating to ionizing radiation, whether (a) former armed service personnel involved in nuclear testing and (b) all those persons potentially exposed to ionizing radiation are receiving medical screening by specialists in radiation medicine independent of the Ministry of Defence.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Medical surveillance of classified radiation workers, as required by the Ionising Radiation Regulations 2017 (IRR 17), is an assessment of an individual’s medical fitness to work with ionising radiation. A classified radiation worker is a person who works with ionising radiation who could be exposed to higher levels of ionising radiation levels under both normal work and accident conditions. This assessment is performed by a doctor appointed by the Health and Safety Executive. Appointed Doctors have training in occupational medicine and have received additional training in the relevant aspects of the nature and effects of ionising radiation.
Medical surveillance should occur prior to being classified and every 12 months thereafter, unless the doctor specifies a shorter review period.
Special Medical surveillance by an Appointed Doctor must be arranged for any employee who has received, or is suspected to have received, an overexposure to ionising radiation, whether or not they are a classified person. The extent and nature of this will depend upon the circumstances of each individual case.
The employer decides which Appointed Doctor(s) they will use to carry out medical surveillance. Whether or not the Appointed Doctor is an employee of that organisation, or independent of it, is a matter for the employer to decide upon.
In the context of IRR 17, former armed services personnel involved in nuclear testing would be considered in the same way as any other workers exposed to ionising radiation in respect of the need for either medical surveillance or special medical surveillance.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the EU Directive 96/29/Euratom on safety standards relating to ionizing radiation, whether the Government is funding the implementation of the guidelines set out in that directive.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Basic Safety Standards for protection against dangers arising from exposure to ionising radiation Directive (2013/59/EURATOM), or the BSSD as it is known, updates 96/29/Euratom, and covers occupational, public, and medical exposures to ionising radiation, with several government departments and regulators responsible for updating regulations to ensure effective transposition.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) implemented the occupational exposure aspects of the BSSD and brought in the required new standards in the Ionising Radiation Regulations 2017 (IRR17). The Radiation (Emergency Preparedness and Public Information) Regulations 2019 (REPPIR), which address public exposures, have been updated and are due to come into force on 22 May 2019. HSE and the Office for Nuclear Regulation have enforcement responsibility. The amended medical requirements have been implemented by the Ionising Radiation (Medical Exposure) Regulations 2017 (as amended) and are enforced by the relevant enforcing authority in England, Scotland and Wales.